“So that’s what you’ve been dealing with at school?” he asked.

I shook my head.

This was a bit more… direct, more violent than usual.

When I tried to speak, a surge of emotion made my voice reedy.  It took me a second to figure out how to get the words out, and the end result was that my voice sounded hollow and robotic, “That was the worst she’s tried to hurt me physically.  Guess it’s different outside of school.  I can defend myself more, but she has less reason to hold back.”

And on top of that, she was especially angry.

“So I suppose the,” he cleared his throat, “Kiss on the bus?  It was for her benefit?”

I swallowed hard, in an effort to get my voice more normal.

Yeah, but how does Taylor explain why she did that?

I probably wouldn’t get another chance.  “Some, yeah.  Some was for mine.”

He turned toward me, eyebrows raised a fraction.

Smooth 😉

I’d left the dog psychology book behind, I realized.  That bummed me out as much as anything.

Aww.

Oh well, there are more bookstores in Brockton Bay, I’m sure you’ll find another one.

I hadn’t really won or lost, as I saw it.  Any injuries I’d sustained were balanced out by the fact that I’d fought back, and that Brian had been there to back me up.

Yeah, I guess this was kind of a draw, to some extent.

Well, that was my gut feeling, anyway.  It was entirely possible that I’d change my mind after I saw how bad the damage was to my face and ear.

Well, maybe.

Might as well know sooner than later.  I gestured to the side of my head and asked Brian, “How bad is it?”

“I think that ear’s going to need stitches,” Brian told me.  “You’ve got a tear in the skin by the earlobe.”

Ouch.

I nodded, mute.

“You want to press assault charges?”

The only witness they have besides Brian is on Sophia’s side. That might complicate things.

I shook my head.  No money to do it, no use in trying.  She had Emma’s dad backing her up, and the only witness was the old guy from the bookstore, who had given me the distinct impression he sided with Sophia over me.

Yeah.

It took us another two minutes to wrap things up with the old man.  He accused me twice more of being a thief and gave us a dressing down for causing violence in his store.

As if you didn’t cause violence in your store your-fucking-self.

When he started demanding we go to the back with him and talk about the damage and mess, Brian grabbed my arm and guided me out of the store, ignoring the old guy’s insults and shouts of protest.  We took the quickest route out of the mall and started walking down the street.

Let’s be real… it’s not like that bookstore could get much more disorganized.

“It’s a lie,” I told him.

The old man ignored me.  He looked at Brian, “I thought you’d be on the other girl’s side, not sure I would’ve let you past if I knew it was any different.”

For fuck’s sake.

Why had he come to that conclusion?  Because Brian and Sophia were both black?  I didn’t like that assumption, that I was automatically the bad guy, here.

Ahh, right. The shopkeep was black too.

Ugh, I don’t know how to put what seems to be going on here without sounding like a douche…

It’s racism. I do not want to debate whether “reverse racism” is a thing or not, but the black shopkeep appears to be prejudiced against Taylor because she’s white and in favor of Brian and Sophia because they’re black. If that isn’t racism, then I don’t know what is.

(I’ll say this much – it’s a matter of semantics. Usually one side of that debate is talking about systemic racism whereas the other is talking about personal racism, but people don’t always keep in mind that there’s a difference.)

“No,” was Brian’s curt reply.  “My friend is right.  That girl attacked her.”

Sophia backed away another few small steps, behind the old man.  When Brian moved forward, the old man got in his way, angry.  “Hey now, I’m not going to have any more fighting in my bookstore.”

Of course. When the person you’ve assumed is the “good guy” is on the defensive, you don’t want any more fighting.

Sophia saw her chance and ran.  I raised my hand, as if I could somehow reach out and stop her, then dropped it.

Oh well.

“My ear hurts like hell, and I don’t even know what she did to the side of my face, but I’m alive.”

“Good.”

Sophia bolted, and there were only two ways to go – through me, or past Brian.

Well, I think it’s pretty obvious which way she’d pick.

She chose the easy road, dashing toward me, and I lunged for her, aiming to grab her, slow her down enough for Brian to step in.

Except she was faster than I’d anticipated, proving her position on the track team wasn’t just for show, and even my last-ditch effort at grabbing her wrist fell short.

The leopard can run at up to 58 kilometers per hour. This black panther is outta here.

Brian and I gave chase, and were stopped when the guy from the front counter emerged and stepped partway between us and Sophia.

Seriously, dude. Not helping.

“What’s this?” he looked between us.  Behind him, Sophia turned to face us, assessed the situation and then backed up a few steps with the old man’s back was turned to her.

“She attacked me,” I said.

To be fair, usually the person running away isn’t the attacker, unless they took something.

“Looks that way, sure, but the girl said it was justified, that you stole something from her on the bus.

Seriously, dude?

Asked me to stay at the counter and turn up the volume on my show while she got it back.”

And here I thought you weren’t the trusting type – turns out you’re straight up gullible, and also quite irresponsible.

If that was how it turned out, I was okay with that.

“Enough,” the male voice cut in.

Sophia halted in her advance.  She turned an impassive expression to Brian, who stood to her left.  He set plastic bags of food on the ground as she watched.  “The boyfriend.”

Eyy, backup!

Brian looked at me, and there was a touch of concern in the expression.

I turned my attention back to her.  “Meet Sophia.  One of the girls that’s been giving me a hard time at school.”

“Oh hi, Brian. How are you? This is Sophia, she’s against me.”

The look of concern disappeared from his face in an instant.  It was replaced by anger.

“She’s lying,” Sophia told him, without the slightest trace of hesitation.

Too late, Sophia. Brian trusts Taylor.

“She cheated off me for a test, and got us both suspended and-”

“Shut up,” Brian’s voice was low, not much different from his normal speech, but Sophia got the message.  She closed her mouth.  He turned to me, “Are you okay?”

Voice manipulator or no voice manipulator, Brian knows how to make people listen to him.

Brian was supposed to meet Taylor here. If she holds out, there’s a chance she’ll receive backup.

I do think she can win this without him, though. She beat Rachel!

She started toward me, and I had a good sense of how this would go.  She was my height, but she was a [sic] stronger than me, with more room for muscle on her frame.  Not that she was fat, or heavy in any way, but her physique was athletic, slender, and mine was that of a scarecrow – just plain thin.

I guess she does have an advantage here, but didn’t Rachel have a physical advantage too?

There was also the broader context – I was already hurting, and she was fucking psycho.  If it came down to it, I suspected I’d get the worst of it in the fight, unless I either found a way to get to my weapons in my bag or used my powers.  That didn’t mean I wouldn’t be able to do some damage to her in the meantime, it just meant she’d kick my ass in the process.

Not a particularly positive prognosis, perhaps.

“FYI, it was Emma’s dad who called the meeting at the school, not me,” I replied without anger in my voice.

Good point. Taylor didn’t go crying to the people in charge at all.

I was sobered by the sight of my own blood.  Odd as it sounded, I felt more comfortable with the situation.  I’d dealt with more serious fights, and I felt like I could handle this better, having seen the blood, knowing the ante was higher.

“You still told someone.”

That would be her dad, I suppose.

“So what if I did?  What did you expect, that I’d keep my mouth shut, put up with it?”

“That’s exactly what I expected.  It seems you didn’t get my point about knowing your place.”  Her eyes flickered to the spot where she’d just held me down.  “Maybe you’ll get the message after round two.”

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